A 19-year-old killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school in May. An expert report now criticizes the behavior of the police and names omissions. Even an unlocked door would have made the massacre easier for the perpetrator.
Around six weeks after the massacre at a Texas elementary school, an expert report identified failures by the police. The University of Texas report released Wednesday said a police officer saw the gunman approaching the Uvalde Elementary School. The officer asked his superior for permission to shoot. "The manager either didn't hear that or reacted too late." The policeman then turned around to get permission from the supervisor. When he wanted to turn back to the suspect, the 19-year-old was already at school.
The report also denounced other failings that at least abetted the bloody deed. The outside door through which the perpetrator entered the school was not locked. Another police officer drove his patrol car at high speed through the school parking lot when the suspect was there, but did not spot him. "Had the officer slowed down or parked his car at the edge of the school grounds and approached on foot, he might have seen the suspect."
The gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at the primary school in May before he was shot dead by police. The police came under massive criticism for their late intervention at the school. More than 75 minutes after the shooter opened fire, emergency services entered the classroom with the gunman and killed him.
The United States is repeatedly shaken by such and similar cases of gun violence. A gunman opened fire during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois. Seven people were killed and many more injured in the attack last Monday. The 21-year-old suspected shooter confessed to the crime, according to prosecutors.
